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THE QUEST OF BELLS 












THE QUEST OF BELLS 


BY 

LAVINIA SILLIMAN BEVER 


ILLUSTRATIONS FROM PHOTOGRAPHS TAKEN BY THE 
AUTHOR 



\ 



PRIVATELY PRINTED 
CEDAR RAPIDS, IOWA 
NINETEEN SEVENTEEN 


CCa.05 
. 13 4 


COPYRIGHT, 1917, BY 
MRS. J. L. BEVER 


c. 

c 



CEDAfi RAPIDS 
IOWA 


DEC 22 1917 


©CI.A481129 

nu.i. 


To 

Mary, Louis, Ren, and Pauline 
For whom may joyous bells ever be ringing, 
these pages are lovingly inscribed 












































































FOREWORD 


HE author of this little book is and has 
always been a very busy woman. How 
she has found time for this study is a 
puzzle to me. 

For a long time I have seen in her home 
a cabinet filled with quaint and beautiful bells gath¬ 
ered from the four corners of the earth. I had suffi¬ 
cient interest to ask about them, but I confess my 
interest was but a passing one. To collect bells and 
study them seemed to me a trivial task at best. 

But since reading this book in manuscript I have 
changed my mind. I now see how wide the study 
has been and how much there is to learn apart from 
the mere story of the bells. 

It is not strange that almost every great poet has 
used this theme-Longfellow in his “Song of the 
Bell” writes: 

Say! how canst thou mourn? 

How canst thou rejoice? 

Thou art but metal dull: 

And yet all our sorrowings, 

And all our rejoicings, 

Thou dost feel them all! 

Too few of us go beneath the surface of things. 








IO 


FOREWORD 


The bells are constantly ringing their various mes¬ 
sages and we are too absorbed in the ordinary affairs 
of life to listen. 

Life for most of us is hard, material, destitute of 
vision, lacking in lustre. There is no splendor on 
the hills, no glory in the sky, no burning bush on the 
Berkshires in October, no “mellow lin-lan-lone of 
evening bells.” 

It is my honor and privilege to commend this little 
book and I do so with the hope that its perusal may 
aid us in seeing the inner meaning of the bells and 
teach us that there is nothing inconsequent in life. 

R. J. Campbell 

The Rectory 
Cedar Rapids 



Th e words of a great preacher in their melodious 
pathos are like the sound of country bells, provoking 
one knows not what vein of music and meditation and 
falling sweetly and sadly on the ear. 

—Joseph Fort Newton 























ILLUSTRATIONS 


The Author .... Frontispiece •' 
Temple Bell from China . . . . 23 k 

Temple Bell from Benares ... 23 

Call Bell from Rome.23 

Bell from U.S.S. Maine .... 23 

Ancient Bell from Edinburgh . . 23 

Dutch Peasant Woman Bell ... 23 

Hand-bell from India .... 23 

Salon Bell in Florentian Ware . . 23 

Roman Bell.23 

Chinese Bell.23 

Mephistopheles Bell.23 

Temple Bell from Japan .... 23 

Amethyst Glass Bell from Egypt . . 23 

Dove of Peace Bell.23 

Bell Pull of Kretschmar . . . . 28 

“Apostles’ Bell” from Brussels . . 37 

Ancient Bell from Arezzo 37 

Temple Bell from Thibet .... 37 

Chinese Sacred Dragon .... 37 

Colored Porcelain from England . . 37 

Napoleon Bell from Paris 37 

English Bedside Candle Bell ... 37 

Mission Bell from California ... 37 

Porcelain Bell from Quebec ... 37 




ILLUSTRATIONS 


H 

Porcelain Bell from Holland . . . 37/ 

Bronze Bell from Switzerland . . 37 

Florentine Table Bell .... 37 

William Tell Bell from Lucerne . . 37 / 

Camel Bell from Egypt ... 37 

The Great Bell of Moscow ... 42 

Great Bell Market of Russia ... 45 

The Great Bell of China .... 48 

Bell at Temple of Daibutsu, Japan . . 49 

Temple Gong from Japan . ... 334 

Pagoda Bell from Japan ... 33 

Bell from Italy in mother of pearl case 33 

Barking Dog from Japan .... 53 

Iron Bell from Panama • • • . 53 

Swiss Bell, fawn-hoof handle ... 53 

Temple Bell from India .... 53 

Buddhist Bell from India . . . . 33 _. 

Original Door Bell from Bever Home . . 53 

Japanese Push Bell.33 

Black Forest Bell.39 

Dutch Tea Bell. 59 

Quebec Souvenir Bell .... 39 

French Girl from Paris ... 39 

Mandarin Chinese Bell .... 39 

Silver Japanese Bell.39 

Table Bell from Switzerland ... 39 

Souvenir Bell from Avon .... 59 

Mission Bell from Swiss Alps ... 39 

Nuremberg Bridal Bell .... 39 

Grotesque Porcelain Bell • • • . 59 

Cow Bell from Bever Farm ... 59 







ILLUSTRATIONS 15 

Holland Girl in blue and white china . 59 

Bell[e] from the South .... 59 

Carved Brass Call Bell . . . . 69 

Pagoda from Japan.69 

Baby Bell from London .... 69 

Sheep Bell from Spain .... 69 

Wind Bell.69 

Old Scandinavian Bell . . . . 741/ 

Mahogany Table with Group of Bells . 77 1/" 








Flushed warmth within; without, white cold; 
In library chamber vast and old, 

I, basking in the fragrent red 
By logs of birch and cedar fed — 

So still the night — heard, toll on toll, 

The distant belfry call to soul 
Belated, or distraught with sin, 

To pray the holy Christmas in. 

— Marion Harland 




THE QUEST OF BELLS 


HIS sketch on Bells was originally 
written merely to be read before the 
Clio Club, which was the first literary 
club in Cedar Rapids, with no thought 
of publication, but many who heard it, 
both club members and other friends, urged me to 
let it be printed. As I kept adding to my collection 
of bells year after year, and it grew to be of so much 
interest I, at last, decided to publish it. 

Were the possession of old or valuable specimens 
of bronze, brass, porcelain, pottery, furniture, etc., 
the only desirable thing which came from many 
hours spent in finding them, perhaps Philistines 
might indeed say, what a lot of time wasted; but we 
collectors find so much more than just these things of 
age and art-knowledge of many lands, the people, 
their habits, insight into human nature, and we do 
get a deeper insight into human nature, which is 
worth any amount of relic hunting. (The words of 
David Harum come to mind, and one must smile as 
one recalls them. “The’s as much human nature in 
some folks as th’ is in others-if not more.” We’ve 
often thought “some folks” have the more.) Also 








20 


THE QUEST OF BELLS 


many historical events, early traditions and legends. 
^ Many are the lessons we may learn if we keep our 
& wits about us as we search and study as we go on- 
and we do go on, for this “fever” does not wax less 
as the days come and go. That very charming Lamb 
in his essay on old China says, “When I go to see any 
great house, I inquire first for the china-closet.” I 
have found it the same with my old furniture, china, 
and especially of the bells. As yet there is no 
marked scantiness of the delightful and desirable, old 
and unique (enough though to make the quest most 
alluring), but one must have enthusiasm. Around 
the world since the beginning of history the music 
of the bell has sounded-thin and faint at first, but 
gaining strength as the years rolled on, until today it 
stands for all that is holiest in every land. In China, 
four thousand years ago, the bell rang out beside 
some pagan shrine, while its contemporary called 
across Egypt’s sands and Nile-fed strip of green. It 
is not strange, surely, that the old Egyptians deified 
old Father Nile to whose flood they owed their daily 
bread-as well as the soil upon which they lived. 
There is something in the simplicity of the Egyptian 
faith which makes one ashamed of one’s own spirit¬ 
ual cowardice. On coming to the great temple 
Karnak the devout sailors celebrate the approach 
with song and beating of gongs and trumpets. The 
Nile boatmen have few songs, but all so true and 
simple in intention that one never tires of their 
monotony. One sees here and there some lonely 


THE QUEST OF BELLS 


21 


tower rising from the sea of sand. Old Karnak 
forms the largest, most imposing ruin in the world. 
The Egyptians built their temples not for centuries 
but for ages. 

Today we hear the bell call above the altars of the 
world. In buried cities are being found little bronze 
resounding cones. Irreverent writers claim that even 
Noah used a bell to call together his party of “per¬ 
sonally conducted” tourists, prior to that unprece¬ 
dentedly damp spell wherein he, as Mark Twain de¬ 
clares, proved himself a poor navigator by running 
into the only bit of land in sight! The gorgeously 
dressed high priest, Aaron, wore a fringe of bells 
upon his robe of blue. Students of bell lore have 
pushed their quest into every land and we find there 
are many legendary stories, all so interesting. 

There is a curious legend connected with the bells 
of Messingham Church. It is said that a long, long 
time ago a traveler was passing through Messing¬ 
ham when he noticed three men sitting on a stile in 
the churchyard and saying, “Come to church, 
Thompson: come to church, Brown,” and so on. Be¬ 
ing very much surprised, he asked what it meant and 
was told that, having no bells, they called folks to 
church in this way. The traveler remarked that it 
was a pity so fine a church should be without bells 
and at the same time asked the men if they could 
make three for the church, promising to pay for 
them himself. They undertook to do this. They 
were respectively a tinker, a carpenter, and a shoe- 


22 


THE QUEST OF BELLS 


maker. When next the traveler passed that way, 
he found the three men ringing three bells which 
said, “Ting, tong, pluff,” being made respectively 
of tin, wood, and leather! 

We read of a custom that dates back to the reign 
of Charlemagne-the baptism of bells-a custom 
which is still extant in Roman churches. It is first 
mentioned in the time of Pope John XIII, when he 
gave his own name to the great bell of St. John’s 
Lateran, Rome. The bells must be hung so that the 
Bishop may be able to walk around them. When 
he has chanted a few psalms in a low voice, he min¬ 
gles water and salt and consecrates them, sprinkling 
the bell both inside and out. Then he wipes it clean 
and with holy oil describes on it the figure of the 
cross, praying the while that when the bell is swung 
up and sounded, faith and charity may abound among 
men and all snares of the devil, hail, lightning, 
winds, storms may be rendered vain, and all unsea¬ 
sonable weather be softened. After he has wiped 
of! that cross of oil he forms seven other crosses on 
it—only one within. The bell is censed, more psalms 
sung, and prayers put up for its welfare. After this, 
feasts and banqueting are celebrated just as at a 
wedding. 

The subject of Bells has always been to me 
strangely attractive; the very word can be pro¬ 
nounced musically-B ELLS. More intimately than 
any other instrument are bells associated with the 





7. Beautiful Temple Bell from China. 
Bronze, very old, and sweet tone. Clap¬ 
per a lotus bud (lotus stands for purity). 

8. Brass Temple Bell from Benares, 
with Buddha handle and wings pointing 
upward. 

9. Bronze Call Bell from Rome, with 
crouching Venus handle. Very fine. 

10. Bell made from the brass on the 
U.S.S. Maine, sunk in Havana harbor. 
“Remember the Maine” on the handle, 
with dates, etc. 

11. Ancient Gilded Brass Bell from 
Edinburgh (Mary Queen of Scots). 

12. Lovely Bronze Dutch Peasant Wo¬ 
man Bell. 

13. Ivory Porcelain Hand-bell from 
India. Decorated in green and gold with 
the God Brahma for handle. Elephant 
head each side. 


14. Salon Bell in Florentian ware, 
richly decorated with human figures and 
coat of arms and inscriptions. 

15. Roman Bell. Stork handle, very old. 

16. Chinese Bronze Bell, with sacred 
owl for handle. Figures in deep relief. 

17. Mephistopheles Bell with money 
bag, from Atlantic City. 

18. Temple Bell from Japan. Did 
ever an elephant hold his trunk more 
gracefully than does this one supporting a 
bronze temple gong, which has panels in 
relief. In each of the four are nine 
“sacred snails.” 

19. Amethyst Glass Bell from Egypt. 
Handle an ibex head and horns. Very 
clear tone. 

20. A charming girl with arms up¬ 
lifted, letting fly a dove of peace. Sil¬ 
ver-brass. 



























THE QUEST OF BELLS 


25 


religious and imaginative, the mournful, the medita¬ 
tive, with the most joyous and with the saddest feel¬ 
ings of mankind. A quaint old writer describes 
their three-fold duties: 

To call the folk to church in time, 

We chime; 

When joy and mirth are on the wing, 

We ring; 

When we lament a departed soul, 

We toll. 

What is there so altogether fascinating about the 
bell whose “century-rusted tongue, burials tolled and 
bridals rung? Once we read the age of those who 
had passed on by the tolling of the bell whose sound 
stirred within us thoughts of our own mortality. 
Now we read the obituary in the newspaper without 
one fine emotion. The bell which has stirred na¬ 
tions and which for ages has told of the joys and 
sorrows of the world is no longer ours except in poem 
or in picture. 

It is impossible to trace the origin of Bells. They 
were known in earliest ages, and referred to by an¬ 
cient writers. Doubtless Bells, so-called, were at 
first little more than concave pieces of metal, four¬ 
sided in form, fastened with rivets, the natural sounds 
suggesting their use for certain purposes. Their 
origin may be said to date from the discovery of the 
sonorous qualities of metals. An old painting of 
King David represents him as playing with a ham- 


26 


THE QUEST OF BELLS 


mer upon bells hung before him. Noah employed 
a similar instrument to summon his ship carpenters 
to their work. 

^ Bells seem to have been universally known in an- 

& cient times. Tribes inhabiting hitiherto undiscov¬ 
ered islands have been found in possession of them. 
The Indians brought small bells to Columbus. 
Possibly some bronze bells found in the palace of 
Nimrod may be regarded as the oldest of which we 
have information. Bronze bells have been found in 
the ruins of Nineveh. The Greeks had bells in 
their markets and garrisons, and the Romans used 
them to note the hour of the day and to announce the 
time for baths. The origin of the name “Bell” is 
not definitely known; some suppose it to have been 
derived from the word “pelvis,” a basin , designating 
shape. Others claim that it was derived from the 
Saxon word “bellan,” to bawl or peal. An Eastern 
writer says bells derive their name from the sun, 
which was called “Baal” or “Beal” from his sup¬ 
posed dominion over everything. We read of a 
Roman custom of hanging a bell and a scourge to 
the Emperor’s chariot signifying prosperity and ad¬ 
monishing against pride. 

iEschylus tells us that Greek warriors concealed 
bells within the hollows of their shields, and when 
the captain came around, they rang them to show 
they were awake. Plutarch mentions that in a cer¬ 
tain city nets with bells attached were placed under¬ 
neath the water, to announce the capture of the flee- 


THE QUEST OF BELLS 


2 7 


ing inhabitants. The ancient shepherds hung bells 
on their flocks as we now do. “And drowsy tink- 
lings lull the distant folds.” It is generally thought 
large bells were first used by the Christians, but they 
were undoubtedly used in China two thousand years 
before the Christian era. It is not fully known who 
first introduced bells into Christian churches. In 
the eleventh century they were not uncommon in 
Germany and Switzerland. From that time the bell 
has spoken for itself. From its eyrie in the belfry, 
it has become inspector and registrar-general of all 
the principal occurrences of human life-at feast and 
festival, at mourning and at meeting, its iron tongue 
has always something to say. Belfries or towers are 
scattered all over the world, but the one which stands 
apart from all others is Giotto’s Tower in Florence, 
and it is Giotto’s. It is square built-276 feet high. 
It is coated from base to summit with different 
colored marbles and is divided into four stories. 
Crowded as it is with tablets, reliefs, and statues, 
there is a lightness about it which no word can de¬ 
scribe. The statues are sculptured by famous artists 
-some of them are prophets, patriarchs, and sibyls. 
The building should be seen and studied under dif¬ 
ferent effects of sunlight and moonlight. George 
Eliot says that in the thirteenth-fifteenth centuries 
the population was so large that Machiavelli says 
the bells of the campanile sounding the tocsin would 
in a few hours bring together 135,000 armed men, all 
from Florence and the adjoining valley. Art was 



28 


THE QUEST OF BELLS 



born in Florence and is still 
flourishing there. Statues and 
marble groups adorn the streets; 
the very stones have tongues- 
the holy fanes, the towers are 
eloquent. “O what a preacher 
is the time-worn tower, reading 
great sermons with its iron 
tongue.” 

When we stop to think how 
much the bell has said to the 
world we are astonished. We 
read of bells being in use in 
churches by the Bishop of 
Llandaff in 550. Christian 
architecture and the introduc¬ 
tion of church bells were nearly 
coeval events, and it was for 
the support of bells that church 
towers were made. A canon 
of the English Church espe¬ 
cially directs that parishes must 
furnish bells and bellropes. 

Some of the bellropes or han¬ 
dles made for the grand homes 
of Europe are very artistic and 
beautiful. The one shown was 
designed by Robert Kretsch- 
mar, of Leipzig. The figures are intended to be made 
in bronze. The two small bells at top are arranged to 



THE QUEST OF BELLS 


29 


hide the crank to which the pull is fastened and are 
of the same metal. The cord is silk, thus making 
the useful ornamental as well. Bells seem to have 
acquired a kind of sacred character; foundries were 
set up in religious houses, attended with great cere¬ 
monies. Frequently the Bishops were the master- 
manufacturers. They were consecrated to the duty 
of calling worshipers together. They were also 
washed and named, and had sponsors, who were then 
as now persons who donated the bells in whole or 
part. 

Before the use of church bells people were called 
together by various means. Egyptians used trum¬ 
pets; Chinese, sounding stones, suspended by cords. 
Once, it was the custom to call worshipers by persons 
termed “God’s Runners,” going from house to house. 
Unlike other nations, the Turks do not use bells to 
call to prayer; their call is by the voice of the muez¬ 
zin, from the summit of the minaret. 

There is a pretty legend told of a bell which was 
hung in a church in Schenectady, New York. It was 
cast in Amsterdam in 1734, and when the molten 
metal was nearly ready to pour into the mold, many 
friends of those who had come to the new land 
brought spoons, coins, and trinkets and cast them into 
the crucible, with prayers for their folk across the 
sea. Those who heard the silvery notes as they rang 
out on the frosty air of the Mohawk Valley, a century 
ago, thought them especially sweet. This bell was 
melted in a fire in i860. 


30 


THE QUEST OF BELLS 


The “Angelus” bell tolled three times a day when 
every one bowed himself in prayer. Angelus is a 
prayer to the Blessed Virgin, introduced by the Pope 
in 1095. It i s so named from the first word of the 
prayer, Angelus Domini. An Angelus bell from 
Spain, dated 1317, has an inscription “Ave Maria 
Gratia Plena”-Hail Mary, full of grace. 

Ring soft across the dying day 
Angelus! 

Across the amber-tinted bay, 

The meadow flushed with sunset ray, 

Ring out, and float and melt away, 

Angelus! 

Oh has an angel touched the bell, 

Angelus! 

For now upon the parting swell 
All sorrows seem to sing farewell, 

There falls a peace no words can tell, 
Angelus! 

Once when Millet’s “L’Angelus” was on exhibi¬ 
tion, two persons, unheeding the crowd, stood before 
it in admiration. “But what,” asked one, “would 
that picture be, after all, without the Angelus? Just 
two peasants in a potato field.” “What would the 
world be without the Angelus?” asked the other. 
“Just a spinning globe with hopeless toilers crawling 
upon it.” Oh! yes, indeed, without the Angelus and 
what it typifies, life would be without love, without 



THE QUEST OF BELLS 


3 i 


hope, and a weary journey. Longfellow in Evange¬ 
line often speaks of the Angelus-“Sweetly over the 
village the bell of the Angelus sounded.” After 
Longfellow’s death, among his papers was found the 
manuscript of his latest written poem, “The Bells of 
San Bias.” 

The Passing Bell rings when one passes out of life, 
so that those who hear it may pray for the soul. From 
this custom is doubtless derived that of tolling church 
bells at funerals. “Prayers ascend to Heaven in 
troops, at the good man’s passing bell.” The Sanc- 
tus Bell, as now used in Catholic churches, is a small 
bell rung by an acolyte at the time of the consecra¬ 
tion of the elements, to call the attention of the 
people. It was formerly a large bell, hung in a tur¬ 
ret of the church and rung at the words, “Sancte, 
Sancte, Sancte, Deus Sabbaoth” when all who heard 
were enjoined to bow in adoration. 

The tocsin, or alarm bell, was early suspended in 
castles and forts, to announce the approach of the 
enemy, as well as to warn of flood and fire. The 
wicked Macbeth calls out: “Ring the Alarum bell — 
Blow wind! come wrack! at least we die with har¬ 
ness on our back.” 

Who does not listen with hushed breath as the fire- 
alarm bell rings out so suddenly and we count the 
strokes. One of the ancient English customs is to 
ring a great bell on Shove Tuesday to call the people 
together to confess their sins. For centuries it has 
been customary to eat pancakes on this day and this 


32 


THE QUEST OF BELLS 


summons came to be known as the “pancake bell,” a 
name which it still bears in those places where the 
custom is now maintained. 

^ But hark, I hear the “Pancake Bell,” 

0 And fritters make a gallant smell. 

What tender memories come crowding, when we 
hear sung the beautiful poem of Moore: 

Those evening bells, those evening bells, 

How many a tale their music tells, 

Of youth and home and that sweet time 
When first I heard their soothing chime. 

Longfellow has been called the poet of bells. His 
beautiful tribute to Bayard Taylor comes to me: 
“Friend, but yesterday, the Bells rang for thee their 
loud farewells. And to-day they toll for thee, lying 
dead beyond the sea.” Longfellow made many al¬ 
lusions to them in “Evangeline” and has written a 
dozen or more poems on them. Much that is best 
and interesting in literature has been suggested by 
them. Tennyson, Poe, Cowper, Coleridge, Schiller, 
Moore, Lamb, Herbert, Holmes, Whittier, and 
many others have written in their sweetest strains 
about them. The chimes of Bruges are the finest in 
the world and they inspired the poem, “The Belfry 
of Bruges.” 

In the market place of Bruges 
Stands the belfry, old and brown, 


THE QUEST OF BELLS 


33 


Thrice consumed and thrice rebuilded, 

Still it watches o’er the town. 

Not a sound rose from the city at that early morning 
hour, 

But I heard a heart of iron beating in the ancient 
tower. 

Then most musical and solemn, bringing back the 
olden times, 

With their strange unearthly changes, rang the mel¬ 
ancholy chimes. 

Like the psalms from some old cloister when the nuns 
sing in the choir 

And the great bell tolled among them, like the chant - 
ing of a friar . 

Among the poets who have sung of the Sabbath 
Bell is George Bungay, who wrote “The Creed of 
the Bells.’ , 

How sweet the chime of the Sabbath Bells; 
Each one its creed in music tells, 

In tones that float upon the air, 

As soft as song, as sweet as prayer. 

From 1550 to 1750 was the golden age of church 
bells. The decorations most often used on them are 
the cross and fleur-de-lis, accompanied by a motto. 

After careful tests of later years, it has been proven 
that copper and tin are the only metals capable of 
producing a proper ringing alloy; iron and steel, 



34 


THE QUEST OF BELLS 


and even silver and gold have entered into the com¬ 
position of bell metal, but to the injury of the tone. 
An English writer says, “Persons speak of sweeten¬ 
ing the tone of a bell by the introduction of a little 
^ silver, as they would of sweetening a cup of tea with 
a lump of sugar-this is a mistake.” Bells have been 
made of every conceivable shape within certain lim¬ 
its. Long, narrow bells, quadrangular, and mitre 
shape in Europe indicate antiquity, and the graceful, 
curved inwardly, midway, and full trumpet mouthed 
bells indicate an age not earlier than the sixteenth 
century. 

The quality of a bell depends, not only upon the 
nature of its composition, but its shape and proper 
proportions of height, width, and thickness; the tone 
of a bell is a result of vibrations; when struck it 
changes shape, and these changes constitute its vibra¬ 
tion; one moment, it is oval, with longest diameter 
at right angles with that of the preceding. Like 
other sounds, bell tones are readily reflected; the 
Swiss muleteers are said to tie up their little bells at 
certain places lest their ringing shake the snow and 
bring an avalanche down. 

Even the meek beast of burden knows his own 
bell-in countries where mules are employed to carry 
burdens the leader, called madrino, wears a little 
bell; the other mules follow with great docility. 
When troops of them all mingle in their stopping 
places, they are readily separated, each recognizing 
at once his own bell. 


THE QUEST OF BELLS 


35 


It is remarkable how far the sound of bells can be 
heard. This depends upon material, shape, climatic 
condition, manner of ringing. In Indiana, a bell 
weighing over 13,000 pounds has been heard sixteen 
miles, and in Japan on a clear day one can be heard 
twenty miles away. The sea is a marvelous conductor 
of sound, and has been turned to valuable account by 
an ingenious device known as the submarine bell. 
The bell is dropped deep into the sea from a light¬ 
ship and rung at intervals by a cable attachment. 
Other ships have a submarine telephone. In this 
way the deep tones of the bell may be heard for 
many miles. 

“If a bell have any sides, the clapper will find 
them,” said Ben Jonson, and yet the proper ringing 
requires experience and skill. They pay much at¬ 
tention to this in England. There is a vast difference 
between the peal and play of the chimes of England 
and the liquid melody which floods the landscape of 
Chinese Asia. The one, music high in air, seems 
ever to tell of faith, triumph, and aspiration, the 
other, in minor notes from bells hung low on yokes, 
echo despair. There are a great number of large 
and important bells in England. Among the most 
noted and largest is the great bell in St. Paul’s. Sir 
John Stainer, of St. Paul’s Cathedral Choir, says, 
“Bells stand somewhat in an anomalous position; they 
are not musical instruments, from an artistic point 
of view, and yet no more beautiful music can be 
heard than the rising and falling of the Church peal, 


36 


THE QUEST OF BELLS 



winding along the sloping valley-side, or floating fit¬ 
fully along the surface of the river-now swelling 
aloud on the evening breeze, now hushed almost to 
silence.” The Great Tom at Lincoln weighs five 
and one-half tons. And a bell in England, called 
“Black Tom of Scott Hill,” is said to have been an 
expiatory gift for a murder. It is tolled on Christ¬ 
mas Eve, and its ringing is called the devil’s knell, 
under the supposition that the devil died when Christ 
was born. If all the bells in England should be 
rung together at a certain hour, there would be no 
place but some bells might be heard, and so the 
demon would have no place in all England. Eng¬ 
land has been called “The Ringing Isle.” The same 
feeling pervades the literature of English bells. 
Southey says “Great are the mysteries of Bell ring¬ 
ing.” His tragic poem, “The Inchcape Rock,” is 
worth many readings. 


No stir in the air, no stir in the sea, 
The ship was as still as she might be; 


Without either sign or sound of their shock, 

The waves flowed over the Inchcape Rock, 

So little they rose, so little they fell 
They did not move the Inchcape bell. 

This bell the holy Abbot of Aberbrothok had 
placed there as a warning in time of storm, but one 
day a wicked sea rover thought he would plague the 



22. Brass “Apostles’ Bell” from Brus¬ 
sels. A reproduction of the St. Salvator 
bell in the Cathedral tower of St. Michel 
and St. Gudule; names of the four evan¬ 
gelists in Latin with their respective at¬ 
tributes. A man, an ox, a lion, and an 
eagle are in relief. 

23. Ancient Bell from dear Arezzo. 
Lace-like decoration, figures, and coat of 
arms. 

24. Lama’s Temple Bell from Thibet. 
Three sacred horns, leather strap handle. 

25. Chinese Sacred Dragon, with gong. 

26. A motherly old Barnstable fisher- 
woman, colored porcelain from England. 

27. Napoleon Bell in brass from Paris. 

28. A Brass English Bedside Candle 
Bell. 


29. Mission Bell from California, El 
Camino Real, King’s Highway. 

30. Porcelain Bell from Quebec. Op¬ 
posite side shows the dog who bided his 
time and gnawed his bone. 

31. Dark colored Porcelain Bell from 
Holland. Decoration by hand in Damas¬ 
cus design, which is 2,000 years old. 

32. Bronze Bell from Switzerland with 
figures in relief and lion handle support¬ 
ing coat of arms. 

33. Ancient iron Florentine Table Bell. 

34. Bell from Lucerne. William Tell 
and his son, in carved horn, brown and 
white, form the handle. 

35. Brass Camel Bell from Egypt, with 
decoration in relief and small bell for 
clapper. 















































THE QUEST OF BELLS 


39 

priest, so he cut the warning bell, and it sank. “So,” 
said he, 

The next who comes to the rock, 

Won’t bless the Priest of Aberbrothok. 

It happened that he was the one to lose his life. 
Coming back years later to Scotland, he lost his way 
in a tempest and his boat struck the Inchcape Rock- 
as there was no warning bell! 

And ever in his dying fear 

One dreadful sound he seemed to hear; 

A sound as if with the Inchcape bell, 

The evil spirit was ringing his knell. 

A fine lighthouse with a revolving light, was com¬ 
pleted in 1811 on this Bell Rock, the cost of which 
was about sixty thousand pounds. 

In some parts of England small bells are arranged 
on a stand and struck by small instruments held in 
each hand of the performer, producing a sweet tink¬ 
ling kind of music. 

Throughout England and Scotland comparatively 
few dissenting places of worship possess bells-still 
fewer have towers or steeples. Thinking of the soft 
music of those village bells the lines of Cowper 
come to mind: 

In cadence sweet! now dying all away; 

Now pealing loud again, and louder still, 

Clear and sonorous as the gale comes on. 



4 o 


THE QUEST OF BELLS 


Many of the church towers in London have peals 
of bells. Eight bells make the most perfect peal. 
The merry peal is almost a national institution. One 
of the most celebrated peals of bells is that of St. 
Mary-Le-Bow, Cheapside, which forms the basis of 
an expression meant to mark a London nativity, 
“Born within the sound of Bow-bells.” Long ago 
they rang bells as a token of merriment, and Shake¬ 
speare has said: 

Get thee gone, and dig thy grave thyself, 

And bid the merry bells ring to thy ear, 

That thou art crowned, not that I am death. 

There are many famous bell-ringers, but few per¬ 
sons have any proper conception of the marvelous 
power of expression that bells possess in the hands of 
such skilled musical players. All feelings and pas¬ 
sions of the human heart can each be represented in a 
most impressive way by the varied tones of bells. 
Of all devices which men have sought for obtaining 
a distinction for making a noise in the world, bell 
ringing is the most harmless. The number of 
changes which can be played upon a chime of bells 
is marvelous. Twelve bells can produce 479,091,600 
changes. 

Bells have been regarded with sincere affection. 
The mighty conqueror of Europe was deeply stirred 
by the sound of them. Bourrienne says of Napoleon, 
“How often has the booming of the village bell 
broken off an interesting conversation-he stopped, 
lest the moving of our feet might cause the loss of a 


THE QUEST OF BELLS 


4i 


single beat of the tones. His voice trembled with 
emotion, while he said-‘that recalls to me the first 
years I passed in Brienned” One of Napoleon’s 
companions said of him, “I’ve often been a witness 
to the singular effect of the sound of a bell on him.” 
Once, dismounting from his horse, the great con¬ 
queror sank upon an old tree stump and burst into 
tears. The sound of the evening bells found its way 
into his heart. They lifted him above sordid ambi¬ 
tions. A man who cries is thinking about Almighty 
God; he may not know it, but a tear has in it some¬ 
what the thought of God. On a small brass table 
bell, the figure of Napoleon forms the handle (p. 37). 

There have been many superstitions about bells. 
It was long imagined that the ringing of them had 
power to avert destruction by storm and pestilence, 
in the belief that their sound purified the air, though 
in later days this influence is ascribed to natural 
causes, and now, in France, they ring bells at the 
approach of a storm. Certainly there is nothing of 
simple human contrivance for which a community 
has stronger regard or with which associations are 
more deeply mingled. Especially are they appro¬ 
priate at weddings. 

The mellow wedding bells! 

Golden bells! 

What a world of happiness their melody foretells. 
Upon the balmy air of night 
How they ring out their delight! 

And from the molten golden notes 

And all in tune 


42 


THE QUEST OF BELLS 




























THE QUEST OF BELLS 


43 


What a liquid ditty floats 
To the turtle-dove that listens 
While she gloats 

On the moon! 

Then there are the great bells of the world; in 
Moscow alone are more than a thousand large bells. 
The Russians regard the sound of bells as a part of 
worship; waves of melody, oceans of music, rung out 
in praise, they are the voice of millions of people all 
crying out to the Great Father. They are not al¬ 
ways rung with regard to harmony, and it is some¬ 
times almost painful to hear them. The great bell 
of Moscow is the largest bell in the world. It is 
called the King of Bells and weighs 440,000 pounds; 
it cost in simple bell material $300,000, and there 
were nearly $1,000 worth added in jewels, plate, etc., 
when it was cast. This bell is placed upon a circular 
ball or base of granite about five feet high. On it is 
a marble slab bearing the following inscription: 

THIS BELL 

WAS CAST IN 1733 BY ORDER OF THE 
IMPERIAL EMPRESS 
ANNE, DAUGHTER OF JOHN. 

IT WAS IN THE EARTH 103 YEARS 
AND 

BY THE WILL OF THE 
IMPERIAL EMPEROR 
NICHOLAS 

WAS RAISED UPON THIS PEDESTAL AUG. 4TH, 1836 



44 


THE QUEST OF BELLS 


There are several figures cast on its surface, among 
which is that of the Savior, the Blessed Virgin, and 
the Evangelists surrounded by Cherubim. This bell 
was cracked in the making and never rung-is used 
as a chapel within the Kremlin gate. 

The wonderful annual market in Russia is the 
greatest in existence. It lasts from July till Sep¬ 
tember and is the chief channel for the interchange 
of the products of the East and West. Buyers from 
all parts of Asia and Europe visit the market, and 
goods to the value of twenty millions sterling are 
sold annually. Among the numerous attractions of 
this vast fair is the great bell market, where all sorts, 
sizes, and shapes of bells may be bought, from spec¬ 
imens weighing but a few pounds to monsters of 
many tons. 

There is another monstrous bell in Russia, which 
is rung only three times a year. There is also the 
Assumption Bell, in Moscow, the diameter of which 
is eighteen feet. It weighs about 220,000 pounds. 
It is suspended above the Chapel of St. Nicholas, in 
the Kremlin. As it is reached by a passage leading 
from the tower of Ivan (at the foot of which is the 
“Great Bell”), it is usually spoken of by travelers as 
being one of the forty bells suspended in the tower. 
It was cast in 1817 from metal of a bell destroyed by 
fire in 1812. It is said, when it sounds, which is but 
once a year, a deep hollow murmur vibrates all over 
Moscow, like the fullest tones of a vast organ, or the 
rolling of distant thunder. Russian bells are fixed 





Great Bell Market of Russia 

















I 














' 








THE QUEST OF BELLS 


47 

immovably to their beams; tongues are slung by 
leather bands. 

China has a great fondness for bells; large bells 
have their origin here. It is not uncommon to see 
enormous bells lying on the ground, having broken 
down the towers. Each bell seems to be of excellent 
workmanship, and richly ornamented with inscrip¬ 
tions inside and out. They are struck with wooden 
mallets instead of iron clappers. “The Great Bell 
of China,” in Pekin, weighs 120,000 pounds, is four¬ 
teen feet high, and twelve feet in diameter. The 
Chinese often make their bells in the form of a Dra¬ 
gon, symbol of power. It is the largest of reptiles 
with feet and scales; it can make itself dark or lum¬ 
inous, heavy or thick; can shorten or lengthen itself. 
A dragon has four claws for a lower rank in China- 
the one shown has four (p. 37). 

In Japan bells are very common, found in every 
size and number. When entering a temple in Japan, 
the custom is, to sound the bells to arouse the deity 
and have him wide awake to the devout. Japan has 
many colossal temples with large belfries or towers 
built separately; many of them have immense bells, 
whose notes “quiver the air into leagues of liquid 
melody.” The mellow music of a Japan temple bell 
is very sweet. The people love their temple bell as 
a dear friend. The bell in the temple of Daibutsu, 
Kyoto, was cast in 1614. A friend writing from 
Kyoto says: “Often while on the hotel balcony, we 
heard a strangely fascinating sound rolling towards 


4 8 


THE QUEST OF BELLS 




The Great Bell of China 



























THE QUEST OF BELLS 



Bell at Temple of Daibutsu, Japan 

































50 


THE QUEST OF BELLS 


us through the sacred groves in solemn silvery vibra¬ 
tions. We discovered after a short walk the cause. 
It was a huge bronze bell-about seventy-four tons in 
weight-whose sweet-voiced call to prayer has echoed 
over this hill for nearly three hundred years.” 

There are few sounds more pleasing than the vi¬ 
brations of a distant, deep-toned bell. The Japan¬ 
ese treat their bells cleverly. Suspended from the 
belfry roof is a large rounded shaft of wood; the 
attendant swings this from side to side and strikes 
one mighty blow. The difference in sound produced 
by using wood instead of metal is, even on small bells, 
astonishing. There is no grating jar, no sharpness 
in the tone, but one stupendous boom of sound, as 
though a musical cannon were discharged. The 
ever widening reverberations fall upon the ear more 
and more faintly till they die away like the murmur 
of surf upon the sea shore. 

There is a long inscription on the Japanese bell in 
Wellesley College which summons the students to 
their studies. At least it did before the recent big 
fire there. One inscription reads, 

Buddha in compassion tender, 

With this bell instead of words, 

Wakens souls from life's illusions, 

Lightens this world's darkness drear. 

Many souls its sweet tones heeding, 

From their chains of sin are freed, 

Oh how potent is his merit, 

Without bounds in all the worlds! 


THE QUEST OF BELLS 


5 1 


The Japanese newsboys wear jingle bells at the 
hip, attached to the sash, and as they run about they 
announce their “Extrys.” I have many Japanese 
bells in my collection, more than from any other 
country. 

There is a cult in Japan founded on the four car¬ 
dinal virtues-urbanity, courtesy, purity, and imper¬ 
turbability-and it has become a mighty force in 
holding the Japanese true to a high standard in mat¬ 
ters of taste. This cult developed from a tea cere¬ 
mony, which was really a gathering of connoisseurs 
to look at works of art, etc. The tea is drunk in a 
very slow, solemn manner, each gesture being fixed 
by rule, hands are washed, a bell is rung, and the 
guests walk to and from from house to garden in a 
stated manner, which never varies-very interesting 
to see-once. 

In the Sintu temples in Japan, one finds a mirror 
as an emblem of purity, placed on the altar. Their 
form of worship is simple, they first wash them¬ 
selves in the fount, pray opposite the mirror, throw 
a little money into the box, and finish by striking a 
bell, to show that their religious duties are over. 

India is quite unique, differing from all other 
lands in her history and religion. At Kandy is the 
old Buddhist Temple of the Sacred Tooth. The 
people speak of this little old building with great 
reverence; it contains a relic, said to be the left eye¬ 
tooth of Buddha taken from his ashes over three 
thousand years ago. A celebrated traveler says that 


52 


THE QUEST OF BELLS 


only a few distinguished foreigners are allowed to 
see it-probably it never was a man’s tooth, being so 
large-more likely a piece of elephant’s tusk. You 
enter a small building and see behind a grating, on a 
^ richly decorated altar, a golden bell three feet high, 
adorned with rubies and other precious stones. Be¬ 
neath this outer bell are several smaller ones, and last 
of all, resting upon a golden lotus, is the tooth itself. 
Sir Edwin Arnold visited this temple, when they 
made a flowery speech to him, beginning “O Poet.” 
Sir Edwin gave a present to the temple, whether a 
bell or not, I do not know, but hope it was. India 
has given the world some unique bells. The Him¬ 
alayas are said to be the loftiest range of mountains 
on earth, their name being derived from two Sanscrit 
words, hima , snow, and alaya , a house; hence the ap¬ 
propriate translation of their title is “The Halls of 
Snow.” 

It was from the little town of Darjeeling which 
means “up in the clouds,” that a former Rector, Dr. 
Thomas E. Green, sent me a very old temple bell — 
from Thibet-used by Buddhist Lamas. He said 
he was very fortunate in getting it from a persecuted 
peasant, who was driven out of Thibet and who 
brought this bell to sell. I am more than fortunate 
that Dr. Green gave me the chief treasure of his trip. 
The top is ornamented with lotus leaves, at the bot¬ 
tom are three sharp points-perhaps, three “sacred 
snails.” Those heathen people look upon so many 
things as sacred to which we give hardly a passing 



Ho 





— 

: : . ■: 






36. Ancient Temple Gong from Japan, 
richly chased. 

37. Beautiful Pagoda Bell from Japan, 
on gilt wood standard. 

38. Bell from Italy in gilt and mother 
of pearl case. Bird rings handle. 

39. Barking Dog from Japan, with 
gong decorated. 

40. Iron Bell of historic interest, from 
the first train engine heard in Panama, 
when Paul De Lesseps came in 1880. He 


gave it to a workman from whom a friend 
purchased it for my collection. 

41. Swiss Bell, fawn-hoof handle. 

42. Temple Bell from India, brass, 
kneeling buddha. 

43. Buddhist Bell from India. Four 
sacred dolphins supporting bell handle. 
Very fine and very old. 

44. Original Door Bell from Bever 
home, with bell pull. 

45. Modern Japanese Push Bell. Stork 
on push, fine bronze. 





























































V 




















































































>- 































































THE QUEST OF BELLS 


55 


thought. Also, the Lamas or Buddhist priests from 
Thibet are seen turning a kind of handbell, within 
which is a roll of printed prayers. The revolution 
of the machine reels off the prayers without inter¬ 
fering in the least with the holder’s thoughts. Even 
this is considered too much work by some Buddhists, 
and great cylinders, containing prayers enough for a 
whole community, have been made so as to revolve 
by means of water-wheels or wind-mills! One of 
these prayer barrels may be seen at Darjeeling and a 
bell marks each revolution as it turns on its axis; a 
famous ancient prayer-wheel has a poem written by 
hand. Charms of jade, bone, etc., are often attached 
to the weight and chain by which the rotary move¬ 
ment is given to the wheel. These prayer machines 
are in every Thibetan family. They keep them 
jealously guarded and it is very difficult to get one. 
They are made of copper, brass, and silver. The 
lower class of Thibetans have strange and mystic 
religious ceremonies in which, disguised in skins and 
ghastly masks, they sing and dance with extraordi¬ 
nary contortions, to the accompaniment of weird 
music, made by bells, horns, flutes, and drums. They 
make such a noise with all these instruments that 
sometimes the prayers are quite inaudible. And, 
Oh Merciful God! these poor benighted people have 
only to look up to see what might be the gates of 
pearl in heaven! where the mighty form of Kinchin 
Jinga, twenty-nine thousand feet high, stands glori¬ 
ous and rosy in the morning glow, and peak after 


56 


THE QUEST OF BELLS 


peak gives a magnificent greeting to the god of day. 
Kinchin Jinga is the glory of Darjeeling, the repre¬ 
sentative of the Himalayas. I have often thought 
Mt. Ranier must look at sunset like this Himalaya 
mountain, all glowing and glistening in icy pink and 
deep rose. These mountains say great things to us 
if we listen. Sometimes they seem to say in tones 
that leap from peak to peak-I Am. 

It is a far call from India back to Holland and 
though she is a small country, her bells are remark¬ 
able for their size and number; they are hung about 
every church and public building in endless variety; 
and they are never left at rest. 

And roof of tile beneath whose eaves 
Hang porcelain bells that all the time 
Ring with a soft melodious chime . 

Some of these Dutch bells are very attractive in 
blue and white porcelain. 

In Italy and Switzerland there are bells made of 
baked earth, which have a sweet sound. Some of 
the Italian bells are very artistic. While climbing 
the steep ascent of that ancient street which leads past 
the old Palazzo Pubblico at Arezzo, thickly hung 
with old armorial bearings of many bygone soldiers 
and other great men, long since crumbling into un¬ 
remembered dust, if the time should be one of the 
early summer days, when the bright flowers are 
springing up from the dreaming earth, as we turn 
the corner towards the duomo, we feel the keen air 


THE QUEST OF BELLS 


57 


that sweeps the cathedral close, and remember that 
the long list of eminent names claimed by Arezzo 
are due to the influence of its bracing power. As 
we walk up this narrow time-worn street, we meet, 
with little effort of imagination, poets, painters, 
sculptors, away down the ages, whose names are not 
“writ in water.” 

As we walk we hear the solemn tones the bells are 
pealing, while anthems and burst of choral song min¬ 
gle and ascend even more continuously from here 
than elsewhere, it seems to us. Is it from its quiet 
isolation, on the hill above the city, that the pealing 
seems so heavenly? One cannot come away without 
offering a prayer for beautiful Italy. We sit alone 
and listen to the voices and the far away sound of 
bells, until the service is over; the last note dies away, 
books and doors are closed, and all are gone! truly 
a blessing has come to us! We return down the same 
street-only a span in breadth, glad, happy, and so 
pleased that we have an ancient bell of bronze from 
an old palace in “Dear Arezzo.” The bell is decor¬ 
ated with human figures, cupids, arabesques, and a 
coat of arms. The clapper is an oblong smooth bulb 
shape. The handle and bowl are cast in one piece- 
it is very graceful (p. 37). 

The Swiss truly are a commercial people. You 
find something to buy at every turn. The shops are 
full of ivory carvings, wood carvings, and many 
things useful and ornamental. I found numbers of 
bells. I have William Tell and his son in ivory carv- 
ing (p. 37), but the bell I prize most from Switzer- 



58 


THE QUEST OF BELLS 


land is a silver table bell with the celebrated Lion of 
Lucerne in relief on one side (p. 39). Thorwaldsen 
did a wonderful thing when he modelled in clay this 
masterpiece, which Lucas Athorn sculptured in the 
living rock of dark gray sandstone. Carlyle has writ¬ 
ten some glowing words about this Lion of Thor- 
waldsen’s. It has been called the most moving piece 
of sculpture in the world. The inscription carved 
in Latin in the rock above the lion reads: “To the 
faith and valor of Switzerland.” 

At the Centennial Exhibition were shown most 
artistic and beautiful bronzes. The gem of one col¬ 
lection, from its rarity, was a large silver-bronze bell, 
about three feet high, which was made in Venice. 
The impression of many, if not most, people is that 
bells are usually formed of smooth surfaces of bell 
metal, unrelieved by any figures, or chasing, unless 
it might be the date of their manufacture or names 
of donors. This beautiful Venetian church bell, 
against which hangs a small hammer with which to 
test its tone, is most delicately chased with many 
figures of saints and with scripture scenes as fine as 
lace work. This ornamentation covers the upper 
half of the bell. 

Spain has some famous bells. The bell-master in 
the Giraldo at Seville is blind, as are other bell ring¬ 
ers of Seville. The most celebrated bell is that be¬ 
longing to the cathedral of Toledo. It is said that fif¬ 
teen shoemakers could sit under it and draw out their 
cobblers’ thread without touching. Another story 
of this bell we read in Washington Irving’s “Moor- 





46. Black Forest Bell, with portraits 
and decoration in relief. 

47. Dutch Tea Bell, with blue wind 
mill. 

48. Quebec Souvenir Bell. White 
china, picture of calache and horse. 

49. Charming French Girl from Paris. 
Blue and white china. 

50. Chinese, with gay mandarin. 

51. Graceful Silver Japanese Bell, 
snake handle. 

52. Silver Table Bell from Switzer¬ 
land, with Lion of Lucerne in relief. 


53. Souvenir Bell from Avon, with 
Shakespeare Coat of Arms. 

54. Old Mission Bell from Swiss Alps. 

55. Nuremberg Bridal Bell, silver, 
holding drinking cup for groom. 

56. Grotesque Porcelain Bell, made in 
Europe. 

57. One of the first Cow Bells in Iowa, 
from the old Bever farm. “Oh, Mary 
go and call the cattle home.” 

58. Delightful little Holland Girl, blue 
and white china. 

59. A real Bell[e] from the South, por¬ 
celain. 






























* 








. 


- 





. 







































THE QUEST OF BELLS 


61 


ish Chronicles.” King Ferdinand having gained pos¬ 
session of the city of Cordova, so long the seat of 
power of the Moors, began to repair and improve 
the grand mosque. The greatest and most magnifi¬ 
cent in Spain, it was now converted into a holy Cath¬ 
olic church. ' In this mosque were found the bells 
of the church of San Iago in Galicia, which a Mo¬ 
hammedan ruler of unpronounceable name, mostly 
a’s, l’s, and g’s, in 975 had brought in triumph and 
placed there. They were turned with their mouths 
upward to serve as lamps and remained a shining 
memento of his victory. King Ferdinand ordered 
that these bells should be restored to the church of 
San Iago; and as Christians had been obliged to 
bring them on their shoulders, so infidels were com¬ 
pelled in like manner to carry them back. Great 
was the popular triumph when these bells had their 
tongues restored to them and were once more en¬ 
abled to fill the air with their holy clangor. The 
king having restored the bells to San Iago, had oth¬ 
ers suspended in the tower of the mosque. When 
the pilgrims who came to Cordova heard these bells 
chiming from the tower of the cathedral, their hearts 
leaped for joy and they prayed for blessings on the 
pious King Ferdinand. In Mrs. Browning’s “Casa 
Guidi Windows,” she says, 


Spain may well 

Be minded how from Italy she caught, 

To mingle with her tinkling Moorish bell, 
A fuller cadence and a subtler thought. 



62 


THE QUEST OF BELLS 


There are many old bells in Scotland, Ireland, and 
Wales; the oldest are often quadrangular, made of 
0 thin iron plates, riveted together. The bell of St. 
Patrick’s Will is six inches high, five inches broad, 
four inches deep, and is kept in a case or shine at Bel¬ 
fast. It is inscribed in 1091. 

Early in the sixteenth century, we reach the thres¬ 
hold of the golden age of bells. As the Stradivarius 
violin is the result of centuries of experimenting, so 
the bells of Van Dengheyn and Hemony, 1650, are 
the true models for all succeeding bell-makers. To 
any one fond of the dear bells, it is exceedingly enter¬ 
taining to study the construction of them, how they 
are cast, inscribed, molded, tested, tuned, etc. A tuner 
must be a musician-he tunes by taking small chips 
out of the bell. There is a great deal of skilled me¬ 
chanical labor connected with bell casting and the 
work requires the closest attention from start to finish. 
The bell founder should be an artist as well as artisan. 
It takes several weeks to cool a large one. A good 
bell yields one note; any person with an ear for music, 
can tell what the tone is. This note is called the con¬ 
sonant. The note of the bell in Grace Church, Cedar 
Rapids, is E. It was this bell which inspired James 
Duncan’s poem, “Song of the Bells.” 

In your tower, alone, 

By the power of tone, 

Ham’ring the hours into rhymes, 

Brazen hearts into chimes, 

And-the Bells,- 


THE QUEST OF BELLS 


63 


Rolling out o’er the hill, 

Like a voice that is lingering still, 

Be ye strong, 

It is long — 

But, in time, time, time. 

We do not like to think of the many horrible mas¬ 
sacres and battles that have been rung in with bells; 
we love to connect them with the religious and joy¬ 
ous feelings, and the hopes and pleasures of life. 

Octaves of little bells have been used with church 
organs and orchestras. We have spoken of those 
used on horses and sheep, and must not omit to men¬ 
tion the tinkling cow-bell. The pleasure of a drive 
in the country is enhanced as we hear the soft ring¬ 
ing of a bell attached to a cow’s neck. “The lowing 
herd winds slowly o’er the lea.” House bells worked 
with wire and spring coils are scarcely one hundred 
years old. The old bell pulls, which we still some¬ 
times see in old houses, have nearly disappeared, 
though lately we have noticed decorators are using 
them with beautiful tassels in handsome rooms. 
Electric bells mostly fill their places. Electric bells 
are used to protect orchards. So familiar have elec¬ 
tric bells become to most of us that even their sound 
at unexpected times, or in unusual places, rarely 
startles us. Not so with birds, to which the sudden 
ringing of a bell on a tree or a post means something 
far more uncanny than any scarecrow flapping in the 
wind. Knowing this, the head master of an Aus¬ 
trian school has patented an electric scarecrow system 


6 4 


THE QUEST OF BELLS 


in which a clock marks the connection at regular 
intervals to electric bells scattered over the orchard. 

An electric bell tinkled sharply beside the florist’s 
t desk. “Frost bells are now pretty generally used by 
® florists and fruit growers,” he said. “An electrical 
contrivance is connected with a thermometer and 
when the mercury falls to a certain point-you regu¬ 
late this danger point to suit yourself-a bell rings a 
warning in your house or office. Many a crop of 
winter fruit and flowers has been saved in the past 
year or two by the clever little frost bell.” 

A bell which brings precious memories to me and 
may to some of you who read this sketch, is the first 
bell rung in my home to which I came as a bride. 
How often it has welcomed dear friends, some of 
whom have gone to their long sleep. For the good 
it has done, and for tender memories, it may some 
day be hung where it can again peal forth in some 
service (p. 53). 

Who has not heard a country school bell? Can 
you not see the young girl teacher standing in the 
doorway, ringing her bell vigorously? 

Ring! bells of September, your merriest peal, 
Though deep in the midst of our pleasures you steal; 
Farewell to the woodland, the mountains, the shore, 
To the frolicking waves with their tumult and roar; 
One last lingering glance at their gem-bedecked 
foam, 

For the bells of September are ringing, “Come 
home” 


THE QUEST OF BELLS 


65 


And oh! the welcome sound of the dinner bell! 

That all-softening overpowering knell , 

The tocsin of the soul—the dinner bell. 

It seems as if the whole civilized life is set to bell 
music in one way or another and runs the gamut 
from monster bells down to the jingling baby’s rattle. 
Occasionally they can be found as souvenirs of 
noted places and events, though they are not com¬ 
mon. I have asked in many places for them with¬ 
out success, and have discovered strange bells in 
some little old shops that even the owners did not 
know they had. Once in a while we come across a 
quaint one. Strange answers are sometimes made 
to our inquiries and requests. Walking along the 
Boardwalk at Atlantic City one day, we stopped in 
front of a small shop; the keeper was an Egyptian, 
at least he looked like one. “Have you any bells?” 
asked we of the eager eye. “Au, no, no,” said he. 
Still, we looked over his well-filled shelves, thinking 
there must be one. At last, on a top shelf, we saw a 
rather devilish looking red object with wings, grab¬ 
bing a large white bag. “Surely that’s a bell,” said 
we. His black beady eyes smiled, astonished at our 
penetration, and reaching for it he said, “Oh yes, 
Madame, that is Atlantic City bell (p. 23) ; the bag is 
full of money. You may have it for what you like.” 

The bell of special interest in this country is the 
famous Liberty Bell, which on the 4th of July, 1776, 
announced the signing of the Declaration of Inde- 


66 


THE QUEST OF BELLS 


pendence. It is now in Independence Hall, Phila¬ 
delphia, with other relics of Revolutionary times. It 
was cast in 1751, and upon it in relief are placed the 
words from the Bible, “Proclaim Liberty through¬ 
out all the land to all the inhabitants thereof.” 

Did ye think I was cracked 
With my tongue ever stilled; 

That the soul of me lacked 
God's own spirit that filled 

The souls of my sires when they heard me and 
thrilled 

To the notes of my music-to His purpose willed 
By patriot martyrs in blood that was spilled 
That we all might be free? 

Know ye these things of me; 

That my spirit is deathless and ever shall be, 

That my strength grows yet greater in souls of the 
free, 

To slay every tyrant and free every slave; 

To brand every bigot and scourge every knave. 

This bell probably never will leave Philadelphia 
again. There is a great crack in the metal which is 
said to be increasing in size as the years pass. The 
bell was sent to the Columbian Exposition at Chi¬ 
cago twenty-two years ago and it also was sent to the 
exposition at Seattle. The officials of the San Fran¬ 
cisco exposition brought so much pressure to bear 
that the consent of the Philadelphia officials was ob¬ 
tained, and as a result it was sent to San Francisco 


THE QUEST OF BELLS 67 

where it was guarded with as much care as if it were 
a human being. 

Let me swing! 

Let me ring! 

Hear me sing! 

Hear me bring 

My message of Freedom - God's voice set a-wing, 
Proclaiming and naming each man to be king. 

Aye, cherish thou must 
Me, ye souls of the just, 

Nor dishonor taint me 
Nor foul purpose rust, 

For do ye not cherish 
Me then shall ye perish 
With all of thy temples laid crumbling in dust, 
With all of thy glories grown foul with the lust 
Of honor s betrayal and unhallowed trust. 

In the Centennial year a bell weighing 13,000 
pounds, to represent the thirteen original states, was 
set in the tower of the old State House, in Phila¬ 
delphia. It is in constant use and tells the hours of 
the day in deep tones. 

We have great interest in the Columbian Liberty 
Bell, cast in 1893. Its purpose is to help perpetuate 
peace the world over. It has been photographed 
more than a thousand times. It is estimated that 
more than 200,000 men, women, and children were 
interested in its casting by gifts or personal donations 
of gold, silver, copper, tin, and bronze. Historic 


68 


THE QUEST OF BELLS 



articles, formerly owned by many patriots, Revolu¬ 
tionary and Civil War relics, family heirlooms, coins 
of all nations, including copper pennies which were 
current when Christ was on earth, Indian copper rel¬ 
ics, gold and silver spoons by the hundred, gold and 
silver thimbles by the quart, and jewelry by the peck; 
these were all represented in the casting. No other 
bell in the world approaches this in variety and pe¬ 
culiar value of its composition, or in the elegance of 
its finish. The inscriptions on the bell are “Glory 
to God” and “A new commandment give I unto you, 
that ye love one another.” 

A distinguished English writer has said, “The 
sound of the bell has traveled, with the light that has 
lighted the Gentiles, and now that the gospel has 
penetrated the most distant parts of the globe, there 
is not perhaps a minute in which the melody of bells 
is not somewhere rising towards Heaven.” Charles 
Lamb said, “Of all sounds of the bell, the most sol¬ 
emn and touching is the peal which rings out the old 
year.” Tennyson’s poem, “The Death of the Old 
Year,” beautifully expresses this feeling: 


Toll ye church bells, sad and slow, 
And tread softly and speak low, 
For the old year lies a dying. 


Old year you must not die, 

You came to us so readily 
You lived with us so steadily 
Old year you shall not die. 



6 0. Carved Brass Call Bell, with maiden who courte- 
seys and rings a bell. 

61. Pagoda from Japan, hanging gong. 

62. Baby Bell from London, ivory ring. Sheep Bell 
from Spain, with coat of arms. Wind Bell. 



























































































































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THE QUEST OF BELLS 


7i 


Those who visit Schaffhausen are supposed to do so 
only for the sake of the Rhine-fall; but to me the fall 
was not so interesting as the carved and painted 
house-fronts, encrusted with ornamentation, the old 
fortress commanding the city, the eleventh-century 
minster where, though all else has been laid waste, 
the ancient bell is reverently preserved, with its in¬ 
scription that inspired Schiller’s “Song of the Bell”: 

Now then with the rope so strong 
From the vault the Bell upweigh, 

That it gains the realms of song 
And the heavenly light of day! 

All hands nimbly ply! 

Now it mounts on high! 

To this City, Joy reveals !— 

Peace be the first strain it peals! 

In the old royal exchange of London, there hangs 
a chime and while the building was being destroyed 
by fire, the bells were playing, “There’s nae gude 
luck aboot the house.” 

The Curfew Bell was rung about 8 o’clock in the 
evening. The custom was introduced into England 
by William the Conqueror, from France, where 
it was rung as a signal to put out the fires and lights. 
Hence, couvre feu ) cover fire. In many places even 
now the “Curfew tolls the knell of parting day.” 
Rose Thorpe has written a beautiful poem, “Curfew 
shall not ring tonight.” 


72 


THE QUEST OF BELLS 


She has reached the topmost ladder, 

O’er her hangs the great dark bell 
And the awful gloom beneath her, 

Like the pathway down to hell! 

Shall she let it ring? No, never! 

Her eyes flash with sudden light, 

As she springs to grasp it firmly, 

Curfew shall not ring tonight! 

The glorious chimes or carrilons are scattered all 
over the world. The largest chime in America is in 
the magnificent court house and city hall in Minne¬ 
apolis. The chime is heard for many miles. 

In Sarah Grand’s book, Heavenly Twins , she 
speaks of the chimes which “come mellowed but 
clear and resonant, causing a continuous murmurous 
sea of sound.” 

The old, quaint, and historic bell used on Robert 
Fulton’s first steamboat, Clermont, 1807, was lately 
installed in a place of honor on the fine new steamer, 
Robert Fulton, on the Hudson. 

The largest bell in Canada is that of Notre Dame 
Cathedral in Montreal. It weighs 24,780 pounds. 
It was cast in London in the tenth year of the reign 
of Queen Victoria. The largest bell in the United 
States is the alarm bell on City Hall, New York; it 
weighs 26,000 pounds. The largest revolving, 
swinging bell in the world is in Cincinnati. In 


THE QUEST OF BELLS 


73 

Iowa, St. Ambrose, Des Moines, has one of the old¬ 
est bells in America. 

The first bell rung in America was erected on the 
first church built in this country, early in 1494. 
Columbus landed at Isabella, on the island of San 
Domingo, 1492, and there built a church. This 
church was destroyed by an earthquake in 1542. 
About twenty-five years ago, in the branches of a fig 
tree which had grown up among the ruins of the 
belfry tower of the church, a bell was seen, which 
proved to be the original bell in question, and this 
historic bell is now in the city of Washington. It is 
of bronze, eight inches by six and a half, bears the 
letter F in old gothic characters, and has the image 
of San Miguel on its surface. 

The 1 st of March is a day of joyful festivity 
among the school children in some parts of Switzer¬ 
land. At 4 o’clock in the morning a party of school¬ 
boys marches through the village clanging cowbells, 
big and little, with all their might to proclaim the 
dawn of a boisterous day to their slumbering school¬ 
mates still abed. As the day grows bright the boys 
gather, each one with a huge bell hung around his 
neck, on the village square, where they form in ranks 
according to their size. When the preparations, al¬ 
ways conducted amid great excitement and juvenile 
jubilation, have been completed, the procession starts 
on a tour through the streets to the accompaniment 
of furious bell-ringing and noisy yodeling. 

Bells have been cast of glass of considerable thick- 


THE QUEST OF BELLS 



Old Scandinavian Bell 

In possession of the Boston Society, Boston 



































THE QUEST OF BELLS 


75 


ness and they make a fine sound, but are too brittle 
to stand the use of a clapper. However, there are 
many beautiful small ones. I have one, a chime in 
the key of C, in my collection. 

The oldest known dated bell in Christendom and 
one of the most interesting in the United States, was 
procured in London at the shop of the bell founders 
who cast “Big Ben.” The inscriptions on this bell 
are in Latin, which translated are, “James, Jesus 
Christ, Mary: Quintana and Salvador made me in 
the year of our Lord 1247.” The James mentioned 
is St. James, the patron saint of Spain. It is very 
probable that this was the “Santa Maria bell” in the 
campanile of the parish church at Santiago. St. 
James, according to the legends, often appeared in 
the sky, mounted on a milk-white steed, and gained 
the victory for the Spaniards in their bloody battles 
with the Moors. Today, although Santiago has a 
population of less than 25,000, it has forty-five eccle¬ 
siastical edifices with two altars and 1184 bells, and 
is visited annually by scores of thousands of pilgrims. 
When this bell was cast in 1247, Louis IX of France 
was making ready for the sixth crusade, 1248-1250; 
the Magna Charta of England had been granted by 
King John just thirty-two years before; the Fran¬ 
ciscan Order had been founded by St. Francis but 
thirty-seven years; America was undreamed of and 
Columbus would not be born unt;il two hundred 
years later! Surely this old bell, although cracked 
and clapperless, still has power to call up strange 



76 THE QUEST OF BELLS 

scenes and forgotten deeds from the vanished past. 

The Cathedral at Antwerp has a set of ninety bells 
and on them an air is played every half hour. 

Some of the inscriptions found upon bells are very 
interesting, showing the religious feeling, supersti¬ 
tion, or amusing sentiment prevailing at different 
times and places. Some are quaint, whimsical, and 
nonsensical. They also serve as historic records: 
“Our motions speed the Redeemer’s praise.” On 
one famous bell, “My name is Roland, when I toll 
there is fire, when I ring there is victory in the land.” 
On a fire-bell in Shelburne: 

Lord! quench this furious flame; 

Arise, run, help put out the same. 

On one in Derbyshire: 

Mankind like me are often found, 

Possessed of naught but empty sound . 

In Oxfordshire: 

I ring to sermon with a lusty boom, 

That all may come and none stay at home. 

In Berkshire: 

At proper times my voice Til raise, 

And sound to my subscriber’s praise . 

Another in Derbyshire: 

When of departed hours we toll the knell, 
Instruction take and use the future well. 



An unique Mahogany Table with group of old Bells 














































































































































































THE QUEST OF BELLS 79 

Lowell’s inscription for a bell at Cornell Univer¬ 
sity is fine: 

I call as fly the irrevocable hours, 

Futile as air or strong as fate to make 
Your lives of sand or granite; awful powers, 
Even as men choose, they either give or take . 

In the flow of time and years, the note of the bell 
becomes more significant, making as the centuries 
pass, an educative power in seriousness. “As sad as 
a temple bell.” 

So we see bells are ringing in every land, making 
a complete belt of melody around the world, and 
calling forth most tender sentiments of love and 
adoration. If we listen perhaps we may hear the 
soft twilight bells ringing a tender, true message to 
us. Who knows? 

Ah! when I hear the music of the distant bell, 
Falling so still, when the dark day is half done, 
Visions more beautiful than ever word can tell, 
Inspire to do, and make His work mine own. 

And when the sounds grow faint until they die away, 
The echoes answer, haste to work, some thing 
On the wide sea of life awaits thy hand each day, 
That must be done ere our last bell shall ring. 












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